Swiss Village of Blatten Faces Devastating Glacier Collapse

Blatten has been partially destroyed by a glacier collapse, prompting evacuations and highlighting the looming threats posed by climate change to alpine communities.

 

The Swiss village of Blatten has suffered a catastrophic event as a massive portion of glacier broke away and cascaded into the valley, causing significant destruction to the settlement. Although the village had been preemptively evacuated days earlier due to warnings about the instability of the Birch glacier, one individual remains unaccounted for, and many residences have been entirely obliterated. Local authorities have labeled the situation as "very bad" and are calling for assistance from the Swiss army's disaster relief unit, while government officials travel to the affected area.

The 300 residents were forced to leave their homes on May 19, following geologists' alerts regarding the glacier's precarious state. Now, many may face the heartbreaking reality that they may never be able to return. The calamity that has impacted Blatten serves as a grim warning to communities throughout the Alps. Climate change is accelerating the melting of glaciers—massive frozen rivers—and endangering permafrost, often referred to as the critical binding element of the mountain landscape.

Eyewitness drone footage captured the dramatic moment the Birch glacier collapsed around 3:30 PM (2:30 PM BST), as the resulting avalanche roared down the valley, enveloping Blatten in a thick cloud of dust. Glaciologists have been cautioning about the dangers to alpine towns for years, and Blatten is not the only village that has faced evacuation. Two years prior, residents in eastern Switzerland's Brienz had to leave their homes due to nearby mountainside instability and have only been allowed brief returns since.

Such incidents have historical precedent; in 2017, a significant landslide claimed the lives of eight hikers near Bondo, illustrating the dire consequences of glacier instability. Recent assessments suggest that Switzerland's glaciers may vanish within the next century unless global temperature increases remain capped at 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels—a target that climate scientists assert has likely been surpassed. As the melting progresses, the threat of flooding and landslides looms ever larger, putting more communities at risk, much like Blatten has experienced.